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Newsone has compiled the latest Biafra news today, which means the latest news about Biafra activist Nnamdi Kanu and other Biafra groups such as the IPOB, MASSOB, BIM, and BNL.
Court has ordered FG to pay Nnamdi Kanu N500m and return him to Kenya immediately.
Newsone reports that a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia state, southeast Nigeria, has ordered the President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government to pay N500 million damages to the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for his forcible extradition and extraordinary rendition from Kenya.
This online news platform understands that the presiding Judge, Justice Evelyn Anyadike, who gave the judgment on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, said that the Federal Government and its agencies grossly violated Kanu’s fundamental human rights by illegally renditioning him back to Nigeria without due process.
The court in its ruling, ordered the Federal Government to return the IPOB Leader to Kenya where he was before the June 19 2021 forceful disappearance from the East African country.
Nnamdi Kanu has won again with the court ruling against Buhari Government.
Newsone reports that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government of Nigeria has lost its bid to transfer the suit of the extraordinary rendition of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, from Umuahia to Abuja.
The Feder al High Court in Umuahia, Abia State in a ruling on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, insisted that it has the jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit against Nnamdi Kanu.
The Supreme Court will today, Monday, hear the appeal filed by the Federal Government asking that it should set aside the Appeal Court judgement that freed Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
NEWS-ONE NIGERIA recalls that the Appellate Court had in a unanimous judgement by the three-man panel of justices, dismissed the charges against Kanu by the FG for flagrantly violating all known laws in the way it forcefully renditioned Kanu from Kenya to the country for the continuation of his trial.
“The court will never shy away from calling the Executive to order when it edges towards Executive recklessness”, the appellate court held.
However, the Federal Government has gone to the nation’s apex court asking it to stay the execution of the judgement the appellate court delivered on October 13.
Among other things, it is arguing that the appellate court panel erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice when it relied on the manner Kanu was renditioned from Kenya to Nigeria after he jumped bail the trial court granted to him in 2017, to quash the entire charge against him.
Biafra: Court adjourns CNG suit on referendum to January 27
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, adjourned hearing on the suit filed by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) seeking a referendum to determine the fate of Biafra and other self-determination agitations to January 27, 2023.
It would be recalled that the CNG had in June 2021 dragged the National Assembly and the Attorney-General of the Federation to Court, asking it to compel the defendants to halt the ongoing constitutional review exercise and in its place, conduct a referendum to determine what determines Nigeria and who populates it.
The Federal Government has filed seven grounds of appeal against the October 13 Court of Appeal judgment which discharged the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
It asked the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment and restore the charge against the respondent to be tried at the trial court.
The government, in a motion on notice in support of the appeal, is also seeking a stay of execution of the judgment of the court presided over by Justice Jummai Sankey, pending the hearing and final determination of its appeal, noting that the IPOB leader posed a flight risk.
The notice of appeal dated October 18 was signed by the Director, Public Prosecution of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar, Assistant Chief State Counsel, D. Kaswe and A. Aluko and Senior State Counsel, G. Nweze, Department of Public Prosecution, Federal Ministry of Justice.
The appellant averred that the appellate court erred in law when it held that the trial court had no jurisdiction to try Kanu because of “the extraordinary rendition of the respondent.”
It stated, “There was no evidence led by the respondent before the court of the first instance and indeed before the court below to show how he was allegedly abducted and rendered to Nigeria as required by Section 139 of the Evidence Act, 2011 since he alleged that he was abducted without following due process of law.”
The appellant also contended that the court below erred when it held that the executive arm must not be allowed to benefit from the abduction of the respondent “when in fact and by its judgment, the respondent was allowed to benefit from his illegality of disobeying the orders of the court when he jumped bail and was rewarded with a discharge from the charges pending against him at the trial court thereby occasioning a miscarriage of justice against the state and the victims of the crimes perpetrated by the respondent.”
The Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State, will on October 27, deliver judgment on the case of the extraordinary rendition of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Kanu’s Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, disclosed this following the Appeal Court’s ruling, which discharged and acquitted the IPOB leader.
He explained that the ruling of the Appeal Court would not stop the Umuahia Federal High Court.
A statement by Ejimakor on Wednesday reads: “This Press Release is compelled by the avalanche of inquiries I have been receiving from the media and others on whether the judgment set for 27th October at the Federal High Court, Umuahia on the suit I filed on extraordinary rendition will still hold. The answer is: Yes, it will still hold.
“The inquiries are apparently necessitated by the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja on 13th October. Despite this Court of Appeal judgment, the Federal High Court, Umuahia will still proceed with its own judgment on 27th October 2022 as was previously scheduled.
“My office has not received, and we do not expect to receive any notice from the court that the judgment has been adjourned.
“In my awareness that these inquiries mostly emanated from the major and significant impact extraordinary rendition had on the Court of Appeal judgment, I will hasten to add that, despite the common presence of extraordinary rendition, the issues and reliefs before the Court of Appeals in Abuja are markedly different from the issues and reliefs pending judgment before the Federal High Court, Umuahia.
“To be sure, the sole reason for the common presence of extraordinary rendition in both cases is because I had, as far back as August 2021, taken it before the State High court in Umuahia and later to the Federal High court.
“In summary, the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja considered the narrow issue of the impact of extraordinary rendition on the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in Abuja to subject Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to trial. Conversely, the issues or prayers before the Federal High Court, Umuahia are many and different from the narrow issue of jurisdiction decided in the Abuja judgment.
“In summary, the case in Umuahia is sui generis as it borders on fundamental rights, whereas the judgment in Abuja bordered on jurisdiction.
“In conclusion, as the public has been previously informed by my clients, there is no Sit-at-home on the judgment day of 27th October, 2022. Please be guided accordingly.”
About 72 hours after being set free by the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, is still being held in the custody of the Department of State Services.
But Senior Counsel for Kanu and Lead Counsel for the IPOB, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said the legal team would be formally approaching the DSS Headquarters on Monday with the enrolled order of court and judgment of the Court of Appeal, which would be available for immediate compliance.
While citing legal authorities, he said the freedom of Nnamdi Kanu, which was his fundamental and constitutionally guaranteed right, could not be stayed.
Should the government and its security agencies refuse to release Kanu, he said far-reaching extant legal remedies, including reporting Nigeria to international agencies, would be activated to ensure immediate compliance with the court order. Ejiofor said these in an interview with The PUNCH in Abuja.
Nnamdi Kanu: Anxiety in IPOB leader’s Abia community
There are uncertainties in Afaraukwu, Abia State country home of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Newsone Nigeria reports that when the news broke that the Appeal Court had ordered for Kanu’s release, there was wild celebration in the area. However, the hopes that Kanu would join his kinsmen soon became slim after the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami hinted otherwise.
Recall that Kanu was earlier in October 2015, arraigned by Nigerian authorities on an 11-count charge bordering on terrorism, treasonable felony, managing an unlawful society, publication of defamatory matter, illegal possession of firearms and improper importation of goods, among others.
He was granted bail in April, 2017, for medical reasons. However, Mr Kanu fled the country after an invasion of his home by the military in Afaraukwu, Umuahia, Abia State.
In 2021, Kanu was rearrested in Kenya and repatriated to Nigeria. He was then re-arraigned.
With his people celebrating his freedom, Malami is saying otherwise, with his assertion that Kanu was only discharged and not acquitted.
Kanu’s kinsmen from the Ibeku ancient clan in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State are now worried that the Federal Government may not obey the Appeal Court order.
Fresh trouble may be in the offing for the Biafra nation agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, as the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, clarified that Kanu was only discharged and not acquitted.
Malami dropped a hint on Thursday in his first reaction to the Court of Appeal verdict, which on the same day quashed the terrorism charges against Kanu on grounds of his unlawful abduction from Kenya to Nigeria.
A statement from Malami’s office read, “The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has received the news of the decision of the Court of Appeal concerning the trial of Nnamdi Kanu.
“For the avoidance of doubt and by the verdict of the court, Kanu was only discharged and not acquitted.
“Consequently, the appropriate legal options before the authorities will be exploited and communicated accordingly to the public.
“The decision handed down by the court of appeal was on a single issue that borders on rendition.
“Let it be made clear to the general public that other issues that predate rendition on the basis of which Kanu jumped bail remain valid issues for judicial determination.
“The Federal Government will consider all available options open to us on the judgment on rendition while pursuing determination of pre-rendition issues.
The statement was released by Malami’s Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu.
Newsone reports that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, has discharged and acquired the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu of terrorism charges.
This online news platform understands that the Biafra activist Kanu approached the Appeal Court seeking to quash terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government of Nigeria led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Newsone Nigeria reports that the IPOB leader had faulted the order of Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, which ordered him to answer seven out of the 15-count terrorism charge against him.
The IPOB leader had prayed the appellate court to quash the entire charges and set him free on various grounds. He had said the purported offences were not committed in Nigeria.
Ruling on the matter today, Thursday, October 13, 2022, Justice Hanatu Sankey-led 3-man panel of Justices, discharged Kanu.
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